Disc Golf on Ball Golf Courses (Fly 18?)

I was wondering if anyone knew of a site that listed all of the permanent courses on ball golf courses... I believe their called fly 18 courses? Anyway, was interested to see how many were around. Also wanted to know what they charge for green fees compared to the ball golf on the same course? If anyone has been involved with making one of these courses a reality, please email me.

As a ball golfer, I know there is a lot of courses that don't get the play that others do, because of the costs involved in keeping teepads/fairways/greens in good conditions. As a result, you end up with a golf course that is in average to poor condition for a course. Average to poor condition for a ball golf course, is typically outstanding condition for disc golf. Anyway, we have several courses in the area that are like this. WE could put some killer courses up on them and help them out with traffic. Before I start with any proposals for these courses, I wanted to pick some brains about the concept. I'd love to hear any and all ideas...

Now is the time for this movement. There has been more talk about pay to play courses in general. New in 2008 The Willowbrook Golf Course in Byron, Michigan is installing 18 Chainstars for permanent play. For 3 years tournamnets were held on the golf course using privately owned baskets and Discraft allowed us to use 18 Chainstars for the larger tournaments. We put temp baskets out a few weeks before each tournamnet with a great response from DGers all over, coming to play the course, even if they were not able to play the tournament. Once the course was established and tweeked, it seemed as if things had a way of coming together. No doubt with a lot of hard work and knowing the right people.
One of the biggest thing to remember is that disc golf will not work on just any golf course. The course really needs some personality and a mature course (large trees w/ natural hazards) is a must. A lot of golf courses were built from something that once was a farm field, and wide open spaces with little need to keep your disc on your fairway, do not seem to draw disc golfers to a course. The course needs to have amixture of different holes, lengths, hazards and elevations to mention just a few things. If you want to see some pictures check out the Willowbrook Disc Golf Course club on the clubs page of this website.

Fly 18 is a brand name. It is Reese Swinea's thing. I don't think anyone has a list of all the courses. Reese would have a list of his courses. Try www.fly18.com.

Tracey Glidden and I recently convinced a course to install baskets permanently. For four years we've been running a hugely successful tournament on their course using temporary baskets. Because of a change in ownership it took four years to convince them to do this instead of two years.

What you want in a golf course is a wooded course with stupid narrow fairways and weird doglegs that force you to play an iron off the tee and lots of elevation and water. 18 holes of roller-roller-roller gets boring. You need those other elements to force the players to air it out.

It also helps if the golf course is the underplayed course owned by someone who owns two or three courses. You need a course owner who has a course that is lagging financially but who also has the money to risk $5,000 on baskets.

And then you need to run a hugely successful tournament there on temporary basket during the time of the year when they are closing up and won't have to turn away golfers to accomodate you. Here that is October or November. I don't know about Kansas.

Thanks for the advice! What tourney did you guys run before? I am originally a golfer and know the ins and outs of play on a course and what to look for in a design. I have two courses in mind around here that get very little play, but also have a lot of elevation change, ponds, lakes, creeks, trees, etc. I wouldn't even attempt a course that gets a lot of play. I have played plenty of courses that are underscale and privately owned that woudl work great for disc golf, and would also give that course more business than normal. I just think it's a great way to not only get more great courses, but also to spread the word about our sport. Especially since golfers would most likely be the type of people to find the sport interesting.

Byron Big D Doubles. We always run it unsanctioned because the course owner has a liquor license.

We filled at 108 this year, I think. Filled at 111 last year. Did something stupid the year before that. Had about 60 players the first year when we did it in November. We have permission to close the course to golfers and do it in July this year!

I would recommend executive-length ball golf courses for disc golf use. I play regularly at Emerald Isle in Oceanside, CA, which runs ball and disc golf concurrently. It was originally a Fly18-managed course. The length of executive ball golf holes lend themselves well to disc golf. Most of the holes play at 330-480 feet if the teepads are near the golf tees and baskets near the greens. I think it is best to follow the same flow of play as the ball golfers, as it minimizes conflict due to crossed paths, and the golf greens and sand traps make great disc golf hazards.

I also play at Sun Valley in La Mesa, CA, which is an executive-length ball golf course. Disc golfers at Sun Valley often play a layout that doesn't mirror the ball golf layout, which causes some flow-of-play problems.

I have played disc golf on full-length ball golf courses and I agree that the roller, roller, roller mode of play is boring. These courses are usually not too succesful, as it takes players with monster arms to make them enjoyable to play.

You can look at the Fly18 website to see a list of some courses on ball golf courses, but Fly18 is not the only source and sometimes Reese keeps courses on his website that have been pulled...

We actually take are regular disc golf course out for the winter to get it some rest. This winter though they put a course on the ball golf course next to our origanol course. It is pretty fun and we actually only use about one fairway on the ball golf course. We kinda criss cross across playing with the woods more since there is no trees in the middle of the fairways. So we actually don't really were walk patterns on there course mostly just play with there rough. Good times.

I want to re-iterate that "Fly18" is Reese Swinea's company and brand name. There are non-Fly18 disc golf courses on ball golf courses. Keep in mind that disc golf on a ball golf course does not equal Fly18.

The Fly18 brand name will attract some people and drive some others away. I'm not picking sides or getting into it here; it's just something you should be aware of.